Community Restoration Plan 1,
Kesen-Machi, Rikuzen-Takata City, Iwate
Prefecture (2012, planning/conception only)

Around six months after the Great East Japan Earthquake, when I was commuting to Kesennuma for work related to the disaster, I met some people from Rikuzen-Takata City. The local authorities were advancing plans to quarry nearby mountains and raise the ground level of the city. However, based on the wishes of the local people to revive the local community, Rokukaku-ya conceived its own restoration plan. Rather than quarrying the mountains, the plan entailed broadly dividing the city into two layers by placing concrete along the former roads of the town, where shrine-centered festivals previously prospered. In the plan, cars would travel on the lower level while people would live above. This would enable the former nostalgic townscape to be revived, while creating a safer community that would be easier to live in. On obtaining the consent of the local residents, we proposed the plan to the city authorities. Although the plan didn’t materialize, we eventually realized the two-layer concept in a later design and building project.